While touring Europe this summer, Seun Kuti drops his incendiary new album Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head), a 12-track manifesto of Afrobeat-meets-reggae, jazz and soul. Drawing on Shakespeare, activism and personal revolution, the deluxe edition remixes his message with Alborosie, Sampa the Great, De La Soul, Kamasi Washington and more.

A few beads of sweat lined Seun Kuti’s eyebrows as he strode through Paris’ busy streets on video chat. “(Normally,) I do not like going out; it’s summer and everywhere is hot,” he tells Guardian Music, moments later after he’s settled into his temporary residence where he’s presently camped out for his European tour all summer.

Watching the musician speak on his art, while walking across crowded streets signalled his maestro and down-to-earth persona.

With a just-released deluxe version of Heavier Yet (Lays the Crownless Head) album, featuring remixes from music greats like Alborosie (T.O.P.), Gaudi & Don Letts (Dey), De La Soul (Stand Well Well), Sampa the Great (Emi Aluta), Adi Oasis (Love & Revolution), and Kamasi Washington (Move), Seun Kuti expands his collection of record with hues of Reggae, Jazz, Zamrock, and Soul. Produced by Grammy-winning American music maestro Lenny Kravitz, Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) spins off as Seun Kuti’s newest album since his 2018 classic, Black Times, showcasing his deeper revolutionist ideas and musical wit.

Catching up with Guardian Music, the award-winning musician discusses the inspirations behind his album and creative process, from Shakespeare’s 16th century literary genius, to the elitism crippling most African societies. He also gives us a glimpse into his life as an avid book lover, ‘revolutionary’ romantic, and his never-ending mission to inspire positive change across the African polity.

Most of my album titles have been a reflection of my politics to a certain extent. And this one was just actually a reply to Shakespeare in Henry IV Part 2; because, at the end, within the play the character was complaining about how nothing works for him and how everybody hates him.

At the end, King Henry said, “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” and over the years, that phrase has become loosely translated as “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.” Basically, it is an elitist narrative, and I am replying that, on behalf of the people (the masses), saying “Heavier yet lays the crownless head”; because regardless of whatever they (the elites) are going through in their life, we, the people (the masses) are going through worse; and, so, they should shut the [redacted] up. Nobody cares!

Most times, I am writing and composing my songs alone in my studio. It is not a group thing. However, when we record music as a group, to release it as a band, that is a different setting entirely. For this album, I had Lenny Kravitz with me in the studio.

There are songs on this project that I had written six years ago. There are also songs that I had written just last year. So, for the duration, it depends on what aspect of the creation process we are focusing on; if it is from the first day I conceptualised it, then that was from the day we released my last album.

When we released the last album, we could not really do our release rollout. We could not travel to record. My organisation, too, was going through a shake-up. There was also the COVID outbreak at the time. That was why I had to suspend my plans to record it, initially, in 2020, and we got back to recording it around 2023 and this is the final version.

We had Sampa, Damian Marley, and a lot of others on the record; working with everybody on this project was incredible. My nephew (Made Kuti) also played the solo on the song, Stand Well Well, and that was a standout moment as well. Willi Bremer did all the percussion. I had a lot of friends, and people close to me, work on this project.

So far, the shows have all been great. I have been going viral in the whole of Europe for a speech I gave. That has been a highlight.

When we were doing it, it did not feel so monumental. For me, the work was all about the ‘love’, initially. It was after we had done it that we realised we had just made a bit of history there.

I wake up and I check if I have things to do that day. Then, I pray to the ancestors. And if there is nothing to do, I just watch TV and lay down in my bed, maybe read a book or two. That’s it, mostly. I also practice my music too. I don’t even like going out.

And, now that I am on my European tour, for some reason it’s summer and everywhere is hot, so that’s even more reason for me to just want to be in the house. However, sometimes, I might have appointments that take me out, like I did today. I’m back now and I’m not planning to go anywhere today again, for instance.

Yes, I like reading, but just not Shakespeare anymore. I read Shakespeare when I was in school, when they taught us to read about what oyinbo (Europeans/Americans, largely) are thinking. As an adult, I only read what my people (Africans) are thinking or saying or want me to think.

Right now, I love Mary Barney; she’s my favourite author of all time. There’s Ayi Kwei Amah, James Baldwin, Franz Fanon. These are all great writers in their own right. I don’t know if any of them is my favourite, particularly.
Still, these are all authors whom whenever I see a new book by them or, perhaps, a book by them that I have never read, I don’t have to think about it twice before I pick it up. There are quite a few great authors out there that I like. Personally, I don’t read a lot of fiction, so I don’t know about fiction writers that much, as of now.

There’s another standout track on your album titled Love and Revolution. Tell us about the muse behind that song.
It was a song that I wrote for my wife. Everyone was complaining that I don’t write any songs about love or romance. So, I decided to write that song about what it means to be in a loving relationship; because, revolution is the highest form of love, according to Che Guevara. And, any woman that does not love Africa cannot love any African man!

Do I come to your office to tell you how to be a better journalist going forward? You all (the media) feel like you can just come into our office and tell us (musicians) what to do and how to do our job. Your job is to sit back, relax, and enjoy whatever we give to you to enjoy. Stop complaining; if you don’t like it don’t listen.
I have said this too many times. I generally do not have any advice for other musicians; I only just tell them that as long as what they are doing is making them happy as artistes, then that is all. That is all that needs to be said!

I am working on my album right now. I am on tour and that is where my focus is at the moment.

I want them to feel their revolutionary responsibility towards Africa, to understand that our national development cannot be divorced from our natural talents. I want doctors that listen to the album to care more about the healthcare of our people. I want lawyers that listen to it to care more about justice for our people. I want teachers that listen to it to care more about giving our children the right education. That is what the album is meant to inspire when people are able to digest it.

I don’t know, one step in front of the other. I am not a planner, as they say, I am one that I know that if you take the right step, then the right next step would follow. I am just putting one leg in front of the other. Nobody knows what is next for them. So, for what is next: we’ll just keep moving.